A hill called the Ward of Bressay rises to 226 metres in the middle of the island, with views back over Lerwick and along the coast; the road up to it starts from Maryfield, where the ferry from Lerwick’s Albert Buildings lands after a seven-minute crossing that runs roughly hourly, no booking needed. Traces of an Iron Age broch, a round drystone tower, lie alongside an early chapel and a Viking longhouse site across Bressay’s crofting land, where around 350 people still live. On the south coast, Bressay Lighthouse at Kirkabister Ness was built by the Stevenson brothers and first lit in 1858, its light switched off in 2012 after more than 150 years. A walk across the island’s south-east corner reaches Noss Sound, where a small inflatable boat crosses in summer to Noss and its seabird cliffs.
